remain in cellar from November until May, 

 as a rule. I have wintered 165 colonies in 

 one cellar without loss of one. My plan of 

 preparing bees for winter differs but little 

 from others ; no upward ventilation is 

 allowed, and all are raised at least one-half 

 inch from bottom board. If any need to be 

 fed, it is done just before they go into win- 

 ter quarters, and all at once. A damp cel- 

 lar is better than a dry one. 



Iba Babbeb. 



Grass Lake, Mich., April 18, 1879. 

 I lost 17 colonies this spring; some froze, 

 but 9 of them left their hives which con- 

 tained a plenty of honey, lots of brood, tfcc. 

 Some of them went into other hives and got 

 killed. Some were rather weak, but others 

 were strong. One of my neighbors had 3 

 colonies in box hives. They were in good 

 condition and wintered well. All of them 

 went off in an hour, about 10 days ago. 

 They left about 75 lbs. of honey. What was 

 the cause of their leaving ? P. Kbell. 



[Either the hives were foul from disease, 

 they contained sour honey, or there was 

 some disturbing cause, making them un- 

 desirable as a home for the bees. We know 

 of no other good reason for the results you 

 mention.— Ed.] 



Bluff ton, Iowa, April 15, 1879. 

 I put 74 colonies, in the cellar the 24th of 

 November, where they remained 125 days 

 without being taken out for a flight. I lost 

 but one, which was queenless, and had not 

 over a quart of bees last fall. My cellar is 

 dry, temperature kept from 38° to 43° above 

 zero, (35° is better in a dry cellar). No 

 dystentery or other disease. Many hives 

 were crowded with young bees when taken 

 out. No spring dwindling so far. I never 

 extract from the hive in the fall. The more 

 honey in the hive in the fall, the better they 

 do for me the next season. Half of the 

 bees wintered on summer stands, or with- 

 out thorough protection from cold, died 

 throughout north-eastern Iowa during the 

 past winter. O. E. Cooeey. 



Maysville, Ky., April 8, 1879. 

 As every bee-keeper has his own peculiar 

 hive, frame, or feeder, that he considers 

 superior, 1 am no exception to the general 

 rule, and I will tell you how mine is made. 

 The Langstroth is the frame for this section 

 of country, and is the one 1 like. I use the 

 regular two-story Langstroth hive, with the 

 exception that the bottom and top story are 

 the same size, with a strip 2 inches wide 

 nailed around the bottom edge of top story, 

 to hold the top and bottom story together 

 when in use ; instead of a honey board, I 

 use a cloth made out of common brown 

 drill, prepared with a coat of beeswax and 

 resin, put on by dipping it into the mixture 

 when melted. My feeder is made by taking 

 a light wooden box, 10 inches square, more 

 or less, 4 inches deep, without a bottom or 

 top ; take a piece of bed ticking, 1 inch 

 every way larger than the box, and with 

 small tacks fasten the cloth to the sides of 

 box, drawing it tight as you put in the tacks. 



With a table fork I punch 5 or 6 holes 

 through the cloth, and then place the box in 

 top story of hive, packin around it with old 

 carpets or any warm material to keep the 

 heat in the hive and to confine the bees to 

 the lower story. Take 2 parts sugar and 1 

 of water, put in a kettle and let it come to 

 a boil, when cool pour into the feed box, the 

 quantity you wish to give the bees, and they 

 will take it through the cloth. This is the 

 best feeder I have ever used. Bees kept in 

 box hives in this section of country have 

 suffered great loss, but where the frame 

 hive is used (with proper absorbents in top 

 story of hive) the bees are in fine condition. 

 W. W. Lynch. 



Higbee, Mo., April 9, 1879. 

 I have 41 colonies in tolerably fair condi- 

 tion. I lost 11 during the cold weather. I 

 think my loss was occasioned by smother- 

 ing, as the snow was banked up around and 

 on top of them. Three of them were in 

 Langstroth hives, the others in hives of my 

 own making, taking the Buckeye frame. I 

 had some in Buckeye hives the doors of 

 which being sprung so that I could not close 

 them tight, were open half an inch from top 

 to bottom; also several Langstroth hives 

 with upper story open ; these all came 

 out in better condition than those better pro- 

 tected, which seems a pretty fair argument 

 in favor of ventilation. I am going to try a 

 new hive this season, called Gould's Com- 

 mon-sense hive. It is made with two stories 

 both same size, taking the same frame, so 

 that each will serve for either upper or 

 lower story. It is particularly recommended 

 for artificial swarming. An old bee-raiser 

 who uses this hive informs me that just 

 before day, the queen goes up into the second 

 story, a large portion of the colony following 

 her, he then lifts off this upper section and 

 places it about a rod off, and he has his bees 

 swarmed. A corresponding section can be 

 placed on top of each hive. Now what do 

 you think of this method ? 



G. R. Chbistian. 



[The theory of the "old bee-raiser" is 

 only a theory. It cannot be depended upon. 

 A frame such as you described would not be 

 acceptable to us.— Ed.] 



Byron, N. Y., April 11, 1879. 

 I find after a month's time that my report 

 in the April number needs considerable 

 modification. My bees have not bad a good 

 flight from March 10th, until April 8th and 

 9th; during these days I made an examina- 

 tion of all the colonies and found 25 dead and 

 from 3 to 5 more weak; so that our loss will 

 approximate to 30 colonies. If it had been 

 warm enough to have given them good flights 

 once a week, I should not have this loss to 

 report, but the weather here has been cold 

 with temperature as low as 15°. I attribute 

 the loss to dysentery. Correspondence from 

 all sections of the country reports heavy 

 losses. A bee-keeper called to see me yes- 

 terday who reports a loss of 60 colonies. 

 Temperature this morning 29°, with about 

 an inch of snow. Should this weather hold 

 on another month you may look for another 

 report. J. E. Moobe. 



